"Asha raises the bar for what is possible in affordable smartphone design and optimization... The synergy between the physical design and the engine that is the new Asha platform has created a smartphone without style and substance," said Timo Toikkanen, executive vice president (mobile phones), Nokia.
Nokia also announced a global partnership with Facebook, saying that Asha 501 users on Airtel and MTNL will get free access to the social networking site.
Nokia has been counting on Asha phones to compete with affordable Android phones selling for less than Rs 10,000. Though initially the company got some success with its plan, in the last one year the cheaper Android phones have improved significantly and are hurting Asha sales hard.
The fact that Asha phones are finding the going tough was reflected in Nokia's quarterly results. Last month, the company reported that it shipped 5 million Asha phones in Q1, 2013 compared to 9.3 million devices in the previous quarter.
In total the company shipped 55.8 million phones in Q1, 2013, a 30% decline compared to the numbers in previous quarter. The decline in the Nokia's business was particularly bad in China, where cheap Android phones made by local companies have found a favour with indoor Tracking. In Q1, 2012 the company shipped 9.2 million phones in Greater China. In the first quarter of 2013, it shipped only 3.4 million phones.
During the same duration, the shipment of Nokia phones fell by 11% in Asia-pacific, 28% in Middle East and Africa, 20% in Latin America 25% in Europe.
In 2011, when Nokia decided to make a switch to Windows Phone, Elop had asked two years of time from shareholders to show results. However, Nokia's performance so far has not been particularly great. At a meeting with Nokia shareholders a few days ago, Elop reportedly said, "we're not out of the woods yet."
While the company is selling more Lumia devices every quarter, it has failed to compensate for the business the company has lost in the overall phone market.
According to a report by Reuters, the shareholders were not happy with the CEO. "You're a nice guy ... and the leadership team is doing its best, but clearly, it's not enough," a shareholder told Elop. "Are you aware that results are what matter? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Please switch to another road."
As Tabrizi points out, MLMs have been under increasing pressure, partially because of the increased role of IT. With the automation of certain business processes and the easy distribution of information, many middle manager positions have been eliminated or shunted to places where they have little influence over the enterprise.
Unfortunately, this is a huge mistake. Tabrizi's research shows that successful enterprises make superior use of middle management. There are some very good reasons for middle management being a source of positive change. For one, executives are often too far from line employees to effectively inspire change. Middle management is usually better placed to make effective use of cross-functional teams work, and they also have a greater impact on the culture of the company as a whole.
In effective, innovative companies, middle management spent most of their time on new initiatives. They were often the authors of these new initiatives or they would be close enough to the line workers to help facilitate their initiatives. In less successful companies, Tabrizi found that MLMs were devoting more than 60 percent of their time to "sheer corporate survival." Middle managers were not being the levers of change or growth, but simply helping the company grind through its day.
Since IT is partially to blame for the plight of the middle manager, is it possible that IT can help the middle manager rebound? Tabrizi doesn't fully tackle the question, but I believe IT is the only part of the company that can. And since IT's job is to help the company grow, it is their duty to try.
The first place to start is remembering that no business initiative can be started these days without IT's help. Unless it can be done with a spreadsheet and email, it is going to require some new resources from IT -- a new app, a new automated process, a new mobile tool, or something to get it going. The first question you're likely to ask is "Who is going to pay for this?" or "Where do I find the time?"
But these questions are exactly why you see rogue users decide to take a credit card and start their own public cloud behind your back. What some CIOs don't get is that the fight between the "rogue user" and the "department of no" is really a battle of convenience for IT... but sheer survival for the middle manager. The middle manager is perceived as "overhead" just as much as IT is, and they're being constantly watched for ROI. IT and MLMs have so much in common they really need to start working together.
How? Start with helping them self-provision. Or if you can't handle self-provisioning, then start listening carefully and responding fast. Remember that effective middle managers spend more than half of their time on new initiatives. If you're the bottleneck, they're not going to be able to keep those initiatives coming.
Beyond that, you need to provide middle management with data they need to do their jobs. Before the rise of IT, middle management held power because senior executives couldn't see what was happening across regions and departments. They relied on skilled middle management to help them understand the whole field. For at least a decade or two, IT has been serving up data and communications tools to senior executives upon request -- and that has routinely allowed executives to cut out the middle man. It is time to provide increased data support to middle management to help them gain the kind of granular, detailed insight that will make them indispensable again.
Another important goal is to break down silos. Remember that middle management is best suited for making cross-functional teams work. Can you break down the silos so that resources and data are at the fingertips of any middle manager smart enough to use them?
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